If you love eating cicadas, this is a great time of year. Admittedly, that’s a huge if. But sure enough, there are folks out there who consider these bug-eyed creatures a genuine delicacy. Take Jack Dobbyn of Mount Vernon, Va.: “You sauté them with lemon and butter,” he told the Washington Post. “They are crunchy on the outside, but they’re soft in the middle.”
As the article explains,
By no means will this year’s cicadas be the first to wash down his gullet. He developed a taste for them in college and looks forward to each fresh invasion as a gourmand might savor the best truffles.
“You have to clip the wings and legs off before you saute,” he said. “You freeze them before you clip so they don’t feel anything. I don’t want PETA coming after me.”
Even the Dairy Godmother in Alexandria, Va., has gotten in on the act with its Cicada Crunch Custard. Unnerving? Sure. But not surprising. After all, Oyamel in D.C.’s Penn Quarter famously featured grasshoppers from Oaxaca. I had them and they were pretty good. I’ll probably pass on the cicadas, though I hear they’re a great source of protein.